Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Brisbane has gone all LNP

With Lord Mayor Graham Quirk winning the local council elections last weekend, both SE Queensland's local and state government are now dominated by the LNP. Although it is early days yet, what does this mean for commuters?
  • Less political point scoring and opposition to plans - things may get done, but bad ideas may also get done (see next 3 points).
  • Cleveland Solution - proposed by Council of Mayors (SEQ), this is a half-baked alternative to Cross River Rail with considerably less benefits, and would result in even more congested level crossings.
  • Suburbs 2 City Buslink - also proposed by Council of Mayors (SEQ). Whilst there are some merits in the Suburbs 2 City Buslink, such as an extra bus bridge across the Brisbane River, the funding would be better spent towards Cross River Rail. 
  • Maroon CityGlider - this plan by Brisbane City Council is a huge waste of tax payers money as it duplicates existing bus routes. 
  • Cross River Rail - has a currently unknown future.
  • CityCat improvements - more express services and maybe a new Milton terminal.
  • Bus improvements - including increased disabled accessibility promised by Graham Quirks election campaign. Will the overcrowded basket case that is the route 66 ever get fixed?
  • Free inner city (slow) ferries - but who uses them?
  • Will anything happen to Brisbane City Council's ownership of Brisbane Transport (buses)? BrizCommuter doubts it. 
  • Will Legacy Way be linked to the Inner Northern Busway to speed up links to Western Suburbs. BrizCommuter doubts it. Very disappointing, especially as a certain Mr Newman previously announced that 2000 express buses per day would use Legacy Way.
  • Free journeys after the 9th journey from July 2012 - but public transport is still too expensive.
  • Phase 2 train timetables are still missing in action. 
  • Mr Newman appears to have a fetish for toll road tunnels. 
  • The LNP have a concerning history of cutting things. 
We will have to wait and see what the new political map brings to public transport users. As usual, BrizCommuter is not holding his breath for any good news. 

3 comments:

  1. I don't mind the Suburbs to City bus tunnel. The Cultural Centre is the biggest delay in my bus trip home, sometimes we are delayed up to 15mins in peak hour there!
    Cross River Rail will never benefit me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The number of people who would reap the benefits of Cross River Rail are far more than those who would reap the benefits of the Suburbs 2 City bus tunnel.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Anonymous, and I am a Beenleigh line commuter who doesn't ever go anywhere near a bus service that uses the Busway. What benefit will the Suburbs 2 City bus tunnel have for me? Perhaps I should oppose your bus tunnel, or the new Springfield rail line (which I will never ride other than a one off trip to see what its like).

    See - it is very easy to get caught up in the "what's in it for me" mentality, without considering the greater system impacts.

    ReplyDelete

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